page_title: Regent Street
section_title: Beginnings: 1811–1825
hierarchical_section_title: Regent Street / History / Beginnings: 1811–1825
caption_attribution_description: English: The Quadrant in Regent Street, London seen from Piccadilly Circus.
context_page_description: Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Place in St James's at the southern end, through Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus, to All Souls Church. From there Langham Place and Portland Place continue the route to Regent's Park.
  The street's layout was completed in 1825 and was an early example of town planning in England, replacing earlier roads including Swallow Street. Nash and Burton's street layout has survived, although all the original buildings except All Souls Church have been replaced following reconstruction in the late 19th century. The street is known for its flagship retail stores, including Liberty, Hamleys, Jaeger and the Apple Store. The Royal Polytechnic Institution, now the University of Westminster, has been based on Regent Street since 1838.
context_section_description: Regent Street was one of the first planned developments of London. An ordered structure of London streets, replacing the mediaeval layout, had been planned since just after the Great Fire of London (1666) when Sir Christopher Wren and John Evelyn drew plans for rebuilding the city on the classical formal model. After a lack of progress, houses were rebuilt on the old street network anyway.
  In 1766, John Gwynn complained in London and Westminster Improved that there was a lack of planning throughout the West End and that it would be useful to construct a thoroughfare linking Marylebone Park (now Regent's Park) with the Prince Regent's Carlton House. John Fordyce was appointed as Surveyor-General to the First Commissioner of Woods and Forests in 1793 and concluded that there should be a suitable road in place by 1811, when the lease for Marylebone Park ran out and ownership reverted to the Crown. It was hoped the road could link Pall Mall and the Haymarket, which had declined and became downmarket. A further problem was increased congestion around Charing Cross, which would benefit from road improvements.
  The street was designed by John Nash (who had been appointed to the Office of Woods and Forests in 1806 and previously served as an adviser to the Prince Regent) and by developer James Burton. Nash proposed his own plans for the street in 1810 following the death of Fordyce, envisioning broad, architecturally distinguished thoroughfares and public spaces, and  planned to construct a straight boulevard as seen in French cities, but this was not possible because of land ownership issues. Nash's final design resulted in a road situated further west than on previous plans, and Nash believed the road would run down a de facto line separating the upper classes and nobility in Mayfair with the working class in Soho. 
  The construction of the northern section of the New Street involved demolishing most of the existing Swallow Street, which had become run down and was an ideal candidate for regeneration. The road was designed to curve east between Oxford Street and Piccadilly so that it did not meet St James's Square, and the circuses allowed visual continuity down the street.  The central section, known as the Quadrant, was designed for "shops appropriated to articles of fashion and taste," and was Nash's centrepiece for the street. It was built with a colonnade of cast-iron columns, allowing commuters to walk along the street without having to face bad weather. The buildings along the Quadrant had different facades, a deliberate choice by Nash to break away from the uniform design of the previous century and  a pragmatic means of using what building materials were available and what clients wanted. The road was planned to end outside Carlton House in Pall Mall, the residence of the Prince of Wales. Nash insisted that businesses on the street would be of high-quality to rival nearby Bond Street; common trades such as butchers or greengrocers were not allowed.
  The design was adopted by an Act of Parliament in 1813, which permitted the commissioners to borrow £600,000 for building and construction. The street was intended for commercial purposes and it was expected that most of the income would come from private capital. Nash took responsibility for design and valuation of all properties. Construction of the road required demolishing numerous properties, disrupting trade and polluting the air with dust. Existing tenants had first offer to purchase leases on the new properties. The Treasury supported the proposal because, in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, there was an urgent need for the government to create jobs. Government expenditure was low because the design relied heavily on private developers, such as Nash himself. The buildings were let on 99-year leases, as was common at the time, and income could be recouped in the form of ground rent.
caption: The Quadrant, Regent Street in 1837, seen from Piccadilly Circus. The buildings have since been replaced
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